New pilot (to us) Taro, drove up from El Paso TX to hook himself to a hang glider after being a bottom dweller for the last eleven years.His father was his instructor when he started at a very young age.https://youtu.be/4DL6sGv6faM

billcummings wrote:New pilot (to us) Taro, drove up from El Paso TX to hook himself to a hang glider after being a bottom dweller for the last eleven years.His father was his instructor when he started at a very young age.https://youtu.be/4DL6sGv6faM

Super video!! With all the "new fangled" teaching methods (tandem, scooter, condor ...), it's good to see that the tried and true method of running with a glider on nearly-flat ground is still alive and well!!!

We started out today at the Mesquite Hill thirteen miles south of Las Cruces New Mexico (USA).Taro had a perfect launch flight and landing and I didn't have the camera out.The next one was from near the top of the hill but while Taro flew well he was too slow coming down through the wind gradient and was surprised finding himself past his flare window thus the belly landing. The big wheels and soft sand worked perfectly for him.https://youtu.be/nmmnTDxN92Q

GRAY HILL, NEW MEXICO, APRIL 9 & 10: Mike Reedy, Bill Cummings, Taro Nihonyanagi and I drove up from Las Cruces to Gray Hill on Saturday, April 9. The site is 42 miles west of Socorro, a 500-ft cone, flyable in a several directions, and with smaller hills available for the rest (notably "Dan's Hill", straight west of Gray Hill and half the height). The area is encompassed by seemingly endless grassland, with hardly a tree or a bush to be seen. Ten miles to the west is the Very Large Array, one of the world's largest radio telescopes when all the individual radioscopes are deployed to maximum distance. Joining us at Gray Hill on Saturday were new HG pilot Nathan Bowers of Alamogordo, also Albuquerque PG pilots Max Montgomery, and Bob (last name unknown) with his girlfriend Tina. They got some good photos of pronghorn antelope running across the plains on our way up to the mountain. Max made a short flight in light winds from the top of Gray Hill, but then the winds set up for the weekend at 20 to 25 mph, and south/southwest. Though Taro was set up in the RGSA Gemini 134, he finally put it back in the bag. Instead he, I and Nathan transported the Gemini to the top of Dan's Hill using our RGSA glider cart, usually reserved for journeys to Matt's Mountain near Las Cruces. It worked perfectly well in this location, though. Taro (when the winds calmed down, briefly) had the first launch, and Nathan had the second, from lower down, where he learned the importance of keeping up your speed on landing approaches. We took the glider back to my truck after their flights, and after deciding the winds were just too strong for the moment, camped down in the trees - Bill, Mike, Taro and I. (Nathan and the others headed home for the evening.) Taro had never done any camping in Japan, and so was introduced to the rigors of the art, New Mexico style. That means, sitting back in a nice camp chair with a warm fire in front of you, sipping some beer and munching on hot dogs and salad, all the while being regaled by flying stories of every description. Payment for said rigors consisted of responding with tales of the history and customs of his native Japan - a very fair trade, seeing as we'd all heard each other's flying tales before. He got a little cold on his first campout (I need to find a warmer sleeping bag to lend him next time) but he was ready to fly again in the morning. (Again, more rigors: warm campfire, scrambled eggs, homemade bread for toast, and French-press coffee, courtesy of Monsieur Reedy.) At 9:45, using Bill's 195 Falcon 2, Taro made his first high flight in many years, from the top of Gray Hill. His launch was textbook perfect, he kept up his airspeed, made good turns and set up an exemplary landing approach and touchdown. Mike coached him on the radio from down below, and to me and Bill, up at the hilltop, everything looked just about perfect. We all said goodbye as soon as we had the Falcon packed and loaded onto Bill's X-Terra, and Taro and I then blasted for home. Bill and Mike went exploring, and I'll be eager to hear the details of THAT expedition. Meanwhile, Taro was pretty jazzed, and Nathan was still enthused about his own training, so I'd call it a pretty successful weekend all around. Let's see just what the next one brings. Fly safe, everyone!-Robin